New Ulm weekly review., 1887-03-30
Causes of Colds.

Causes Of Colds.
Andrew Van Ribber in Scientific American
Reading recently an article OF DR..
Brown Sequard on ''T aking Cold, y it
occurred to me that great colds are
peculiar to civilized life and to our
:omfortable,warm rooms. have had
solds perhaps as frequently as any
one, but during one period of my life I
was entirely free from them with one
exception. I served through the war
IN the Fifth Ohio, cavalry, beginning at
Shiloh and ending my services with the
march to the sea. We were an active reg
Ilment always atthe front and therefore
remarkably unencumbered with tents
or;comforts. We were exposed to all
weathers and all seasons. Many a
time we were rained ON for week or
more. When the SUN came out the
next week or the week after it dried
us. Many a time, long after dark, aft
er a march in rain and mud all day,
we have been filed into miry woods,
where we slept in the rain with the
running water washing between us and
our blankets. / have seen men wake
IN the morning with their hair frozen
In the mud. But none OF us caught
cold. We swan the Tennessee river
after midnight, when the mercury was
at zero, and among floating ice, and
came out with our clothes, to our
armpits, frozen like sheet-iron, and
then marched till morning. In the
cold winter of l86364 we were in the
mountainous country OF East Tennes-
see, where it was cold as Ohio. We
were there from November until March,
without any tents Or shelter of any
kind, moving every day, and sleeping
IN a different place every night, with
the temperature frequently below ze-
20.
| have, with my comrades, ridden
upon the skirmish line when I could
not lift g. cartrid ,e out ofmy box, nor
even pick up a carbine cap. I have
been on night pickets, mounted, when
the pickets had to be relieved every
fifteen minutes, because if left longer
the men could not load and fire. But
we never caught the slightest cold, nor
did l ever in times of cold and expos
ure to wet see a soldier with cold.
But did catch one cold in the ar
my, and never had such q one before
Or since. It came from excessive COM
tort, or what seemed comfort to us.
We were at Camp Davies, Miss, the
southern outpost of the great fortress
OF Corinth. Having been there some
months we began to build neat log
cabins, with openings for doors and
windows, no glass or doors, OF course.
One of our mess being ayoung brick
layer, we thought to surpass our
neighbors in style and comfort, and
we Sent for brick, and he built us q
large chimney and fireplace, and we
built good fire. That settled us.
Four of us had to go to the hospital
with tremendous colds on orr chests
and in our heads. We never had such
colds in our lives. This was about
the middle of our threeyears of service,
and before and after that I never saw
an exposed soldier with cold. (Of
course a few days after our cabin was
finished we got marching orders.) I
believe all old soldiers will bear me out
that in active campaigns where there
was great exposure to the weather, no
one had cold. And come to think of
it, in my experience in Colorado and
Utah in recent years, never saw an
Indian with cold, though they stand
more exposure than our cattle do. 1t
is our hot rooms that gives us colds.
II person would camp out from fall
till spring exposed to the weather of a
severe winter, he would never take Ell
ther a cold, pleurisy or pneumonia,
and would be absolutely free from
them. But when you are in Rome you
must do as Romans do, and take
warm rooms and colds.